Early Feedback
Pilot Walkthroughs
The first few months on the project I was working under another designer before they took another opportunity and I became the lead designer. During this time, the initial user testing consisted of several remote sessions with the advanced user group (McKinsey & Company).
As our power users, they will be using all aspects of the tool. In order to make sure that our more common user group is also able to get the most out of the new analytics tool, we conducted user tests with a few customers remotely while watching them interact with the tool via video conferencing.
Kodak Moments
Photo Books Web
Kodak Moments
Photo Books iOS
Problem
Creating a photo book is a time-consuming process even for the most experienced. As a result of having cell-phone cameras, it is easier to end up with duplicates, screenshots, notes, and several unwanted photos in messy, unorganized collections. It is hard to sort through the clutter and find the treasured gems that best tell the story.
Project Details
Role
Lead Designer
Responsibilities
Research, UX, Visual Design
Deliverables
-
Moderate Design Sprint
-
Competitive Analysis
-
Flow / Wireframes
-
Prototyping
-
User Testing
-
High-Fidelity Mockups
The Team and Stakeholders
-
Design Director
-
Product Manager (1)
-
VP of Product and Technology
-
Front-End Developers (3)
-
Backend (Rochester Team)
-
(Mobile Web - 3rd Party)
Platform
-
Native iOS
-
Mobile Web
Tools
-
Sketch
-
InVision
-
Zeplin
About Kodak
Kodak Moments lives under the global heritage of the renowned Kodak brand. As a team, our goal is to create delightful experiences that help customers place their treasured memories into products that will bring them to life in tangible forms.
Where We Started
There was a basic book builder for iOS prior to my time at Kodak. This project was in-part a visual unification bringing photo books product builder into the branding guidelines.
With that said, this was the perfect time to tackle one of the most challenging parts of building a photo book, sorting through the photos and placing the best photos in the book.
Discovery
As a team, we began working through design sprints in order to better understand the customer's needs and to set up the project for success.
Stakeholders were PMs, Marketing, VP, and Developers
Initial Flow Planning
Understanding the User
“When preserving my memories, I want to create a photo book effortlessly, so I can spend more time making memories.”
Meet Mary Ann
A middle-aged woman who is looking to showcase her family’s photos of their adventures and key milestones.
Mary's Goals
-
Select the Best Photos
-
Tell a Story
-
Stay in Budget
-
Review Book and Edit
-
Checkout (Add to Cart)
Business Goals
-
First Time User is Initial Focus
-
Complete Book in One Session
-
“Jump” into Builder
-
Employ “Best Photo” Algorithm
-
Provide Pricing Transparency
-
Focus on Photo-Centric Layouts
-
Support Basic Book Building
We Asked, "How Might We..."
-
Provide a quick selection of photos from collections
-
Speed up the process of finding and selecting the best photos
-
Improve price transparency throughout the entire experience
-
Provide a straightforward process to complete a book in one session
Focus on the First Time User and
Build Book in One Session
Lo-Fidelity Prototype
Initially, we were solving for the photo books shop page, the Made For You book, and the first time user.
It quickly became apparent that this was too large of a scope to complete before the deadline and the decision was made to focus on the first time user who is interested in just building a basic book.
Iterations for Key Features
Several iterations were made for the entire building experience. The examples below focus on a few iterations for the key features Photo Picker, Smartfill, Overview, and Edit Pages.
User Testing
We used Usertesting.com to run a test on a set of screens from a hi-fidelity prototype. The test was not over a flow but instead of various sections of the flow. We tested the Picker, Smartfill, and the Photo Tray.
Sample of a user running through the sectioned prototype on usertesting.com
Synthesizing the tests
Sample of a user running through the sectioned prototype on usertesting.com
Synthesis
The best case scenario would have been to test the entire flow in addition to the sections that were tested using 5 users. With that said, here are some of the key findings from the sections test we conducted:
“It’s very helpful, very quick, very easy to just go in there and if you want to include the whole story you click “Select Story” and it puts a checkmark by all of those photos included into that story.”
“I am going to go with a 4 again because I can see what it is doing and I can see it is filtering out duplicates. But I am obviously not familiar with how it determines which is the best copy of those multiples or anything like that.”
I really wish it would have said, for smartfill on that Kodak Moments Screen, and maybe gave you a description of what Smartfill is. Add Best Quality Photos with One-Click or something along those lines because I am really not grasping the concept of what a smartfill is, so I am giving it a 3 because I am uncertain.
“Looks very natural to move around and select different items, there is not really any big changes that would be kind of confusing to anyone who is not already familiar with using a phone like this.”
Project Outcome
As a team, our initial focus was on native iOS. While designing for iOS we also took into consideration responsive web. After completing the design hand-off to the internal iOS team, I focused on completing the mobile web and desktop experiences. These experiences were handed off to a contract development team.
Reflection
-
Challenge of having only one primary color (red)
-
Challenge of shifting deadlines and scope creep
-
Was keen on conducting interviews and tests on original photo book product but could not get buy-in and therefore tests were conducted late in the process
-
Less assumption based solutions, more data-driven design, would help ground team’s decisions
-
Conduct initial interviews early and if there is an existing experience test it to help ground the team
-
Test early and often; helps provide more leverage for the team when communicating with stakeholders
-
Involve development early and often
